Soul of Your Skin
by a girl with a golden back
Summary: The soft dive of oblivion. Carlos/Stephanie.


A caramel-skinned boy and a mocha-skinned girl stood in the center of a bedroom, surrounded by an arrangement of cardboard boxes and suitcases. Neither of them was quite sure of what to say, her jade eyes darted around the room while his coffee-colored eyes stayed glued to her lean frame, trying to soak every inch of her in while he still had the chance.

"It sucks that you have to move," Carlos sighed, shoving his hands into the pockets of his shorts. Words couldn't express how torn up he was over the whole situation. It seemed like every time things were beginning to go their way, something erupted and sent their hopes of ever being together spiraling into oblivion.

"I know," Stephanie mumbled, twirling a finger through her thick dark hair. Her father had been called to New York by some family friends to help out on an indie horror flick, forcing Stephanie to tag along and leave the Palm Woods, and Carlos, behind.

In all honesty, she didn't mind leaving the Palm Woods behind with its arrogant bunch of aspiring performers, it was abandoning the golden-skinned boy standing in front of her that hurt the most. She'd never really felt a connection to any member of the opposite sex before she'd met Carlos. Sure, she'd been attracted to numerous guys, but it never turned into anything more than that. No guys seemed to _get_ her; they could see past her toned legs or her silky hair.

But somehow, Carlos had been cut from a different cloth than the others. Though he appreciated her beauty, he was also tuned into all of her complexities. The boy practically hung off of every word she said, worshipped the ground she walked on. There was just that shimmer in his stare that let her know that his affection was pure and genuine, that it wasn't due to ulterior motives, and it didn't take long for her to find herself falling.

Stephanie wanted that sensation of freefall to last forever.

"Oh yeah, I got you something," he said softly as he fished a small white box from the back pocket of his cargo shorts.

Stephanie could feel a faint smile creep across her face as she took the box from him, their knuckles slightly brushing against each other's in the motion.

Inside the box, a delicate gold chain laid atop fluffy cotton batting, the outline of a sparrow sinking into the space between the batting and the edge of the box. Though she didn't quite get his reasoning behind the sparrow, she still thought the chain was beautiful.

"Carlos." His name seemed to catch in her throat. "This is beautiful. You really shouldn't have gotten this."

A soft smile flickered across his face, warming his features. "I wanted to. I wanted you to have something to remember me by."

His words echoed the fear that had already been floating around in Stephanie's mind ever since her father told her about the move. Everyone always says that you never forget your first love, but what if they were all lying? Though she knew in her heart that she couldn't forget Carlos, she didn't want to become lost in a pool of memories.

"Thank you," she murmured as she wrapped her arms around him.

Carlos carefully pulled the necklace out of the box, gently brushing her hair aside as he fastened the clasp, letting the pendant dangle at her collarbone. His fingers held the charm gingerly, the gold reflected against the bronze skin of his palm as his thumb traced along the bird's wings.

"They say that if you really love something, you should let it go, and if it comes back, it was meant to be…" There was an unusual depth to his words, but his voice still tugged at them in characteristic awkward innocence.

Her lips met his in a flurry, beginning with a pressure and ending with her hanging from his bottom lip. It was Carlos who intensified the gesture, his lips pressing against hers with force. There was a sort of desperation in his kiss, like he was gasping for air. He needed her just as much as he needed the oxygen he breathed.

They both fell onto her bare mattress, the box springs giving in under the weight of their bodies. Clothing shed from them quickly and easily like snakeskin, and they became completely entangled in one another, skin against skin against mattress.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked, concern clouding his chocolate eyes as he gazed down at her enthralled, disheveled expression.

The girl beneath him nodded, slightly biting her lower lip as his kisses traversed her body.

If nothing else, they would have this moment.

But, like the sparrow, she was determined to find her way back into his arms.


End file.
